Privacy for Teens
As you grow up you usually get a lot more responsibility and freedom. A lot of this comes in the form of online freedom. You may be getting access to your own devices or be able to sign out and use more online services. However, with this freedom, it is a lot easier to compromise your online privacy and security. Also, with the lack of experience, it may be harder to spot potential scams or know what good online habits are. I want to provide you with a couple of rules or steps you should try to follow now, so you will be safer as you get older. Your older self will likely be thankful for it.
One of the most important things you can do is use different secure passwords for each service you use. This is something I wish I would’ve done earlier. Many times, services that are compromised will have their users' information leaked, meaning anyone can get their hands on this information. This information will likely include passwords, along with lots of other information. If you use the same password for everything, means if one site you use has an information leak all your accounts everywhere could be compromised. This may lock you out of your accounts or allow more people to get more personal information about you, like your card information or even in some cases your social security number. You might think having a different password for everything you do will be hard or impossible to remember. However, there are apps that can do that for you, like Bitwarden. This will keep track of all your login information in a safe and secure place where you can access them on all your devices. Best of all it is free.
Another thing you might see is phishing attacks. This is where malicious people will send you texts or email you about one on your accounts telling you need to login into your account, but they are just looking to get your login information. These emails look official and are hard to spot because of this. To avoid this, you should NEVER click on links that are sent to you unless you know why you have them or were expecting them. This will prevent them from getting your information in the first place. You can also use unique passwords, mentioned above, to limit the accounts they can get into if this happens. Lastly, probably the best thing you can do is use a two-factor authentication (2FA) app if you can. This will ask you for a number in addition to your password. It combines something you know, your password, with something you have, your 2FA number. This makes it so people can’t get into your account even if they have your login credentials because they can’t get your 2FA number.
These are some easy steps to get you started being online safely. I hope this guide was helpful and you learned something new. Thanks for checking this out and stay safe!
Micah DeBoer